Area sees little damage from Arthur

Emerald Isle Beaches in Carteret County along Bogue Inlet Pier are calm as residents and tourist begin heading back on to the sand in the wake of Hurricane Arthur on Friday.

Photo by John Sudbrink / The Daily News

By Christopher Thomas - Christopher.Thomas@JDNews.com

Published: Friday, July 4, 2014 at 02:49 PM.

Despite widespread power outages in some locations, local officials are breathing a sigh of relief following Hurricane Arthur.

Onslow County Director of Emergency Services Norman Bryson said the aftermath of the storm was a “pleasant surprise” as few county residents were without power, most of the damage was minor and no injuries or deaths were reported due to the storm.

“We had some expectations that we’d see heavier damages,” Bryson said. “Thankfully, for all of (Thursday) night, few calls came in at 911.”

Bryson said crews were expecting the worse as Arthur, which made landfall as a category two Hurricane at approximately 11:45 p.m. Thursday, approached the coast, but precipitation totals were relatively low in Carteret and Onslow counties.

According to meteorologist Lara Pagano of the National Weather Service, the highest rainfall totals were seen inland. Richlands reported 2.26 inches of rain and a nearby location near the Duplin and Onslow line reported receiving 2.15 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service.

Beaufort reported less than an inch of rain and Swansboro had 1.7 inches of rain.

“Outer bands were going inland, so they would receive higher amounts of rain,” Pagano said.

Despite widespread power outages in some locations, local officials are breathing a sigh of relief following Hurricane Arthur.

Onslow County Director of Emergency Services Norman Bryson said the aftermath of the storm was a “pleasant surprise” as few county residents were without power, most of the damage was minor and no injuries or deaths were reported due to the storm.

“We had some expectations that we’d see heavier damages,” Bryson said. “Thankfully, for all of (Thursday) night, few calls came in at 911.”

Bryson said crews were expecting the worse as Arthur, which made landfall as a category two Hurricane at approximately 11:45 p.m. Thursday, approached the coast, but precipitation totals were relatively low in Carteret and Onslow counties.

According to meteorologist Lara Pagano of the National Weather Service, the highest rainfall totals were seen inland. Richlands reported 2.26 inches of rain and a nearby location near the Duplin and Onslow line reported receiving 2.15 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service.

Beaufort reported less than an inch of rain and Swansboro had 1.7 inches of rain.

“Outer bands were going inland, so they would receive higher amounts of rain,” Pagano said.

Some coastal areas did feel the full affect of Arthur’s hurricane-force winds, though, as 101 mph. winds were recorded on Cape Lookout and 99 mph. winds were reported at Ocracoke, but Pagano said Arthur didn’t linger in the area like Irene in 2011.

“The forward motion of the hurricane helped and it was going at a pretty good pace to the northeast,” Pagano said. “It helped keep percipitation down and the sustained winds weren’t lasting too long.”

Arthur did leave behind displaced trees and branches, which caused power outages in Onslow and Carteret counties. At the height of the storm, more than 16,000 people were without power in Carteret County, according to Duke Energy. Though outages were spread throughout the county, customers in and around Morehead City were especially affected due to nearby fauna damaging the North River substation.

Kristina Hill, spokeswoman for Duke Energy, said the damage done by the storm could leave some customers in the dark until late Saturday, but said things could have been worse.

“For the most part, we dodged a bullet,” Hill said. “We had crews positioned in the area to respond to the storm and we were able to get crews on the ground quickly.”

Nearly all Duke Energy customers in Onslow County had power by Friday afternoon, according to their outage map.

According to Steve Goodson, spokesman for Jones-Onslow Electric Membership Corporation, all of their customers had service before Arthur left the coast early Friday morning.

More than 1,000 customers lost power during the storm, but by about 1:45 a.m. Friday, nearly 10 hours after the first reported outage, the lights were back on for Jones-Onslow customers.

Goodson said the worst outages were near the coast in the Topsail Island and Swansboro areas.

“We had outages on the beach that lasted 2 to 2 ½ hours but that was because they had to come off the beach because the wind and the deteriorating condition on the beach,” Goodson said. “We were prepared for the worst, so from that perspective, we were prepared for 20,000 customers to lose power. Fortunately, we didn’t have more of an impact. It could have been a lot worse.”

Shelters were relatively bare as the storm approached the area.

In Onslow County, three shelters at Jacksonville Commons Middle School, Dixon Middle School and Swansboro High School opened at 4 p.m. Thursday and closed at approximately 10 a.m. Friday, sheltering 46 people between them, according to Lu Espinosa, spokeswoman for the American Red Cross.

Shorelines were also relatively unscathed as coastal communities, including Surf City and parts of North Topsail Beach south of Topsail Reef, reported gaining sand on their shores.

Emerald Isle Town Manager Frank Rush said his community was “fortunate” to get through the storm with little visible damage and said people have been on the beach since the curfew was lifted early Friday morning.

“It feels great,” Rush said. “As Arthur intensified, we were all getting nervous. We were fortunate to come out of it pretty much unscathed.”

In the hours leading up to the storm’s landfall, several wrecks were reported in Swansboro, including one involving Robert Kirk, a 52-year-old Cedar Point man, who got in a one-car crash near the Downtown area of the town.

According to Bob Ritchie, police chief of the Town of Swansboro’s Police Department, at approximately 7:50 p.m. Thursday, Kirk was traveling toward Jacksonville on N.C. 24 in a green pickup truck where he struck and knocked down a speed limit sign then veered through the eastbound lanes and damaged property at Town Hall, including the sign outside the building and pillars on the building before driving through the westbound lands and ending up in woods behind the town’s fire station.

Ritchie said eyewitnesses saw Kirk strike the sign, then accelerate through the four lanes and toward the fire station before his vehicle came to a rest.

The case is still under investigation, though Ritchie said his agency is looking into whether or not alcohol was a factor in the wreck.

Kirk was taken to Onslow Memorial Hospital at about 8:30 p.m. Friday night. His status was not immediately available.